Bone repair after injury seems to closely resemble embryonic bone development: for example, both processes involve progenitor cell recruitment,vascular network establishment and the differentiation of precursor cells into bone or cartilage. But just how similar are the two processes? To find out,Colnot et al. (see p. 4123) examined fracture repair in the absence of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9), a key regulator of bone development. They report that the skeletal defects that occur during bone repair in adult Mmp9-/- mice are very similar to those that occur during bone development in these mutants and that, as in development, MMP9 mediates the vascularisation of hypertrophic cartilage. These parallels between endochondral bone formation during development and fracture repair strongly indicate that the embryonic bone differentiation program is reactivated during adult fracture repair.
A lucky break: bone development reactivated
A lucky break: bone development reactivated. Development 1 September 2003; 130 (17): e1703. doi:
Download citation file:
Sign in
Client Account
Sign in via your institution
Sign in via ShibbolethAdvertisement
Cited by
About us

Our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 this year. Read about the history of the Company and find out what Sarah Bray, our Chair of the Board of Directors, has to say.
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025

We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register by 28 February 2025 to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues

Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology

In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
In preprints
Did you know that Development publishes perspectives on recent preprints? These articles help our readers navigate the ever-growing preprint literature. We welcome proposals for ‘In preprints’ articles, so please do get in touch if you’d like to contribute.